Thomas A. Kucharski

President and CEO

Thomas A. Kucharski, a Buffalo native, returned home to serve as President & CEO of Buffalo Niagara Enterprise on February 1, 2000. Since taking the helm of the Buffalo Niagara region’s first ever regional marketing and business development organization, Kucharski has overseen the development of an organization that went from being a start-up initiative to a mainstay of the local economic development industry.

Under Tom’s leadership, BNE has built an advanced research department with state of the art capabilities to support BNE’s marketing and business development activities. The accurate, up to date and insightful research generated by this department has helped in the design of BNE’s marketing goals and objectives while creating a unique and sophisticated “custom tool-kit” of specific business development information to assist business attraction efforts.

With Tom’s guidance, the BNE Marketing Department developed and launched the very successful and nationally recognized “Buffalo Niagara :: Where Life Works” branding campaign. With a strong emphasis on customer service, Tom has overseen a Business Development department that has made major strides in improving the economic service delivery system in the region.

Goal oriented and results driven, Buffalo Niagara Enterprise has secured 201 successful project wins which represent $3.8 billion in investment in the region and over 30,000 jobs created and/or retained during Tom’s tenure as President & CEO.

Tom Kucharski’s professional accomplishments include serving as an Executive Committee member of the International Economic Development Council, as well as Vice Chairman of the IEDC’s External Relations Committee. He is also an Executive Committee Member of the New York State Economic Development Council and was selected by his NYSEDC colleagues to serve as Chairman of the 2008 New York Loves BIO Initiative. He is currently the Vice Chairman of the Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corporation and also served as the acting Executive Director of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency. In 2007, Tom was the recipient of the Meritorious Service Award from the Western New York Chapter of the New York State Commercial Association of Realtors. Also in 2007, Tom was asked to serve as a member of then Erie County Executive Elect Chris Collins Economic Development Transition Team.

Recognized nationally for his work in the economic development industry, Tom is often quoted and referenced in such national publications as the New York Times and the Wall Street as well as numerous trade and industry publications.

Prior to coming home to Buffalo Niagara, Tom served as the head of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation in Eastern Pennsylvania where he was a member of Governor Tom Ridge’s Executive Committee that created “Team Pennsylvania”, the statewide economic development initiative. Tom also served as the Executive Director of the Horizon Council of Southwest Florida, a regional public/private partnership that included Sarasota, Ft. Myers and Naples, Florida. While there, he was a member of Governor Lawton Childs Executive Committee that created Florida’s statewide economic development initiative known as “Enterprise Florida”.

"Since my return to Buffalo Niagara, It’s been clear that this is a region where life works both professionally and personally. The quality of life and the people are unmatched by any others I’ve experienced elsewhere. And where else could I have sailed in the morning, played golf in the afternoon and skied in the evening – all in the same day?”

Contact Tom at 716-842-1330, ext. 452 or tkucharski@buffaloniagara.org